Photo of Adaeze outside with trees in background and campus building

Adaeze Okeukwu has always been interested in computer science. Now, as a doctoral student at Kansas State University, she is excited to expand her skills in this area as part of ARISE. Her research will help build a novel tool that could transform how cities invest in and manage infrastructure.

With Associate Professor George Amariucai as her mentor, Adaeze spent the fall semester learning about hetero-functional graphs, a robust method that links network science with systems engineering. She also gave a talk recently to help the interdisciplinary ARISE team better understand these complex graphs.

“This is a larger team then I’ve work in before, and it’s interesting because I like to see how everyone can bring together their expertise into the project,” said Adaeze.

When asked what stands out the most about the ARISE project, Adaeze said she was happy to be part of the project from the beginning. She looks forward to building something that others are going to use and improve upon after she graduates with her doctoral degree in a year.

“Another thing that stands out to me is the ability to learn from people who come from different fields, and to see a problem from another point of view,” she said.

Before joining K-State in 2019, Adaeze obtained her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from the Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria. She also worked as a network security administrator for four years.